Penny Arcade Fanboy - DnD yes?
So as it happens I'm a penny-arcade fan boy. I felt it pretty strongly this weekend, I got the urge to go and listen to all the podcasts I had missed listening to. I find them hilarious, and I enjoy the wacky way they arrive at the comic that they write. They seem like a couple of pretty funny guys with a pretty great geek and geek dynamic. I guess I just feel they'd be fun to hang out with.
I have been listening to the podcasts as mentioned, but more so... I broke down and bought their video game. Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness It was $20 bones, and only currently available via digital distribution. (ie. you have to download it) I have a little trouble with this as I ENJOY purchasing the box, and having the disk, and it sounds like they WILL release it eventually as a boxed version but it could be like 6 months from now. Maybe this is something I need to get into, wrap my head around the idea of purchasing things without owning a tactile ... THING. If so, this was the first step.
My brief review of the game.... pretty good. I purchased and played through it Saturday evening - I completed it in about 6 hours playing pretty casually and going upstairs to make a sandwich. The character creator and it's integration in the animation was pretty rad.
The game itself is essentially an RPG, maybe I'd describe it as a.. "narrative RPG"? I mean all good RPGs have stories of course, but it's just very structured. The 'world' you venture around in feels like your an adventure game, and the look/feel of the game is pretty well done. I enjoy the art for it, I really enjoy the cut scenes, and I enjoy MANY (but not all) of the jokes. The game isn't wildly funny. I wasn't laughing my ass off... some of the narrative etc. is just so... DESIGNED to be funny, that I didn't find it funny. Whereas killing hobo for their delicious meat amused the shit out of me.
Hopefully that last line wasn't too spoiler..y. If it was, I apologize.
The game is fun, it was probably worth $20 as a brand new game, but for some reason $15 seems like a better price point, I do realize it's hard to price this kind of thing. And I"m hopeful that the next "episodes" are like $10 a pop for a similar amount of game play/story. Even if they are more... I'll probably pay it because as mentioned - I'm clearly a fan boy.
The other topic I want to cover - is HIGHLY related to this. BASICALLY the guys at penny arcade where approached by some people at Wizards of the Coast and they wanted to advertise the new edition of Dungeons and Dragons on the penny-arcade site (it ships like June 7th?) but they wanted something MORE than just a banner ad if they could come up with it.
What they came up with - was to actually PLAY a D&D4th edition adventure "Gabe" and "Tycho" and "Scott" from PVP - are playing, and Wizards sent a dude to be dungeon master. They are playing the campaign and recording it as a pod cast. It's fucking awesome. 'Gabe' is totally new to RPGs and as such asks/does some pretty hilarious shit. And in general it just sounds like a really fun group, it makes me want to play with them. It just sounds like a fun group of guys.
The point clearly is due to this - I'm tempted as fuck to pick up D&D 4th edition when it comes out.
I have played pen&paper RPGs a LITTLE in the past. I played some Call of Cthulhu and enjoyed it! A lot of fun was had with that, the few experiences i had with it.
There are a couple potential problems. One is finding a group who would WANT to play (never mind play regularly) Though I've recently realized a COUPLE of my friends show... SOME interest. With that concern is the lack of DM - and because the people I currently think would play have essentially no experience with RPGs and as a player I badly DESIRE a good DM... I think I'd just have to try and BE the DM. This is a pretty big task I suspect, especially as I have no previous experience with the game - so a lot of reading/learning/prep would be involved - and all with no clear idea if the group will ENJOY the game or it's something that I will enjoy doing.
AND FINALLY - the third reason.. it feels like it's taking a few steps BACKWARDS in 'geekyness'. I don't currently play any MMO's.... I have long since quit table top war games (though i feel pangs for them now and again I simply remember that's the addiction talking). For someone who lives in his mothers basement very literally - I'm edging towards pretty "grown up", and I worry that picking up D&D might set me back!! (though the very fact that I'm posting this concern in LiveJournal probably says something about how far I've come in un-geeking.... lol)
The temptation remains strong...
for the DM thing - I know when I USED to host poker games, I really liked to get them as 'ready' as possible. Which sometimes stressed me out... I'd want to have good cards on hand, appropriate chips, a good blind timer, a good table, preferably a comfortable area to play in, etc. These days a lot of that prep work is unnecessary and I think hosting a game is fairly smooth and fairly comfortable for attendees with minimal concern on my part. Where I to Dungeon Master a D&D game? I'd definitely want to be WELL prepared, and have a snazzy 'DM screen' and all the character sheets ready and pretty and enough pencils and rules resources and dice and possibly even miniatures? and/or visual aids for the story etc... Like I have a feeling I'd really want to go all out - to ensure the best possible play experience.
So understand - if I do happen to make the decision to explore this game - it is weighted with responsibilities that will undoubtedly arise.
God I ramble - I swear when this post began - in my head I said "ok just a quick post about the penny arcade game, and this D&D shit". Then this happens.
Blogged with the Flock Browser
I have been listening to the podcasts as mentioned, but more so... I broke down and bought their video game. Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness It was $20 bones, and only currently available via digital distribution. (ie. you have to download it) I have a little trouble with this as I ENJOY purchasing the box, and having the disk, and it sounds like they WILL release it eventually as a boxed version but it could be like 6 months from now. Maybe this is something I need to get into, wrap my head around the idea of purchasing things without owning a tactile ... THING. If so, this was the first step.
My brief review of the game.... pretty good. I purchased and played through it Saturday evening - I completed it in about 6 hours playing pretty casually and going upstairs to make a sandwich. The character creator and it's integration in the animation was pretty rad.
The game itself is essentially an RPG, maybe I'd describe it as a.. "narrative RPG"? I mean all good RPGs have stories of course, but it's just very structured. The 'world' you venture around in feels like your an adventure game, and the look/feel of the game is pretty well done. I enjoy the art for it, I really enjoy the cut scenes, and I enjoy MANY (but not all) of the jokes. The game isn't wildly funny. I wasn't laughing my ass off... some of the narrative etc. is just so... DESIGNED to be funny, that I didn't find it funny. Whereas killing hobo for their delicious meat amused the shit out of me.
Hopefully that last line wasn't too spoiler..y. If it was, I apologize.
The game is fun, it was probably worth $20 as a brand new game, but for some reason $15 seems like a better price point, I do realize it's hard to price this kind of thing. And I"m hopeful that the next "episodes" are like $10 a pop for a similar amount of game play/story. Even if they are more... I'll probably pay it because as mentioned - I'm clearly a fan boy.
The other topic I want to cover - is HIGHLY related to this. BASICALLY the guys at penny arcade where approached by some people at Wizards of the Coast and they wanted to advertise the new edition of Dungeons and Dragons on the penny-arcade site (it ships like June 7th?) but they wanted something MORE than just a banner ad if they could come up with it.
What they came up with - was to actually PLAY a D&D4th edition adventure "Gabe" and "Tycho" and "Scott" from PVP - are playing, and Wizards sent a dude to be dungeon master. They are playing the campaign and recording it as a pod cast. It's fucking awesome. 'Gabe' is totally new to RPGs and as such asks/does some pretty hilarious shit. And in general it just sounds like a really fun group, it makes me want to play with them. It just sounds like a fun group of guys.
The point clearly is due to this - I'm tempted as fuck to pick up D&D 4th edition when it comes out.
I have played pen&paper RPGs a LITTLE in the past. I played some Call of Cthulhu and enjoyed it! A lot of fun was had with that, the few experiences i had with it.
There are a couple potential problems. One is finding a group who would WANT to play (never mind play regularly) Though I've recently realized a COUPLE of my friends show... SOME interest. With that concern is the lack of DM - and because the people I currently think would play have essentially no experience with RPGs and as a player I badly DESIRE a good DM... I think I'd just have to try and BE the DM. This is a pretty big task I suspect, especially as I have no previous experience with the game - so a lot of reading/learning/prep would be involved - and all with no clear idea if the group will ENJOY the game or it's something that I will enjoy doing.
AND FINALLY - the third reason.. it feels like it's taking a few steps BACKWARDS in 'geekyness'. I don't currently play any MMO's.... I have long since quit table top war games (though i feel pangs for them now and again I simply remember that's the addiction talking). For someone who lives in his mothers basement very literally - I'm edging towards pretty "grown up", and I worry that picking up D&D might set me back!! (though the very fact that I'm posting this concern in LiveJournal probably says something about how far I've come in un-geeking.... lol)
The temptation remains strong...
for the DM thing - I know when I USED to host poker games, I really liked to get them as 'ready' as possible. Which sometimes stressed me out... I'd want to have good cards on hand, appropriate chips, a good blind timer, a good table, preferably a comfortable area to play in, etc. These days a lot of that prep work is unnecessary and I think hosting a game is fairly smooth and fairly comfortable for attendees with minimal concern on my part. Where I to Dungeon Master a D&D game? I'd definitely want to be WELL prepared, and have a snazzy 'DM screen' and all the character sheets ready and pretty and enough pencils and rules resources and dice and possibly even miniatures? and/or visual aids for the story etc... Like I have a feeling I'd really want to go all out - to ensure the best possible play experience.
So understand - if I do happen to make the decision to explore this game - it is weighted with responsibilities that will undoubtedly arise.
God I ramble - I swear when this post began - in my head I said "ok just a quick post about the penny arcade game, and this D&D shit". Then this happens.
Blogged with the Flock Browser